North Korea says it has successfully refloated a new destroyer that capsized upon launch last month, with state media reporting the damaged vessel will be moved to a dry dock in a different shipyard for repairs.

“After restoring the balance of the destroyer early in June, the team moored it at the pier by safely conducting its end launching on Thursday afternoon,” a report from the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

A satellite photo taken by Planet Labs on June 5 showed the formerly stricken vessel righted and seemingly floating in water away from the pier where the disastrous launch took place.

  • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    5·
    1 day ago

    As I recall from an earlier article, the reason that they did the (normally less desirable) sideways launch is because this facility normally works on smaller boats.

    kagis

    https://en.defence-ua.com/news/while_salvaging_its_destroyer_north_korea_discovered_a_new_serious_problem-14677.html

    Additionally, the new imagery reveals that dredging work has begun to deepen and widen the fairway at the harbor’s exit. Defense Express suggests that this could be in preparation to bring in heavy equipment, possibly a large barge with a crane.

    However, the DPRK lacks sufficient barge-mounted cranes capable of lifting and repositioning the destroyer’s bow. Instead, inflatable balloons have been deployed. The most likely concern is that even if the destroyer is successfully rebalanced, it may not be able to exit the harbor and could run aground.

    The draft of the Choe Hyon-class is unknown, but given its dimensions and displacement, it is likely around 5 meters.

    Old satellite imagery shows that the fairway was artificially deepened in 2021. However, the general depth remains shallow, having been designed for fishing boats and barges — not warships of this size. It is therefore likely that the existing depth is either insufficient or marginal for the destroyer’s passage. To avoid another failure and further embarrassment, North Korea has apparently decided to deepen the fairway further.

    l’d bet that they probably have about the minimum required to get the thing out to deeper water.